Telemedicine
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What we would call digital health care has been developing for decades. Telemedicine has been in the spotlight for the past 15 months but has been around since the 1960s with projects launched by NASA and the Nebraska Psychology Institute. Things have come a long way and Covid-19 has accelerated digital health care, but there is still plenty of room for innovation in the digital front door and clinical care to increase adoption.
Digital technologies have turned several old industries upside down, changing everything from the way consumers order taxis, groceries, and everything in between. While healthcare has gradually become digitally disrupted, many innovations are fragmented and healthcare providers are still faced with the challenge of providing patients with a more seamless experience across all phases of interaction.
To find out what’s next in digital healthcare, I spoke to Joe Paxton, Senior Vice President, Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Persistent Systems. Based on Joe’s experience in delivering innovative technology solutions and service offerings to the health and life science industries, we analyzed the latest data from Prosper Insights and Analytics related to telemedicine and digital pharmacy services.
In the June 2021 survey, there were responses from more than 7,893 statistically balanced participants on the introduction and growth potential of digital health care during Covid-19 and how to overcome the pandemic in the last 30 days.
Gary Drenik: It would be easy to assume that telemedicine really skyrocketed during the lockdowns, but surprisingly, only 30 percent of Americans said they used a telemedicine service during the Covid-19 pandemic. What do you think of this gap between perception and reality?
Joe Paxton: This is not surprising when you consider that telemedicine had limited adoption prior to the pandemic. While 30% may seem like a low adoption rate, it means significant growth. The main reason for the increased use of telemedicine during Covid-19 was the change in government policy to reimburse providers for telemedicine visits. Previously, reimbursement was extremely limited and it remains to be seen whether this policy change will persist for years to come.
Still, we can look at the general lack of telemedicine in terms of people, processes, and technology. Barriers in one or more of these areas are likely to be responsible for the lack of adoption of telemedicine. First, I would expect people’s attitudes toward telemedicine to be in part shaped by ingrained feelings about health care. Working with a healthcare professional is exponentially more personal and more important than ordering food or streaming movies, so part of the digital divide is psychological. It is pleasant to be in personal contact with a doctor, even if it is only brief.
In telemedicine, process and technology are closely linked. The age group of patients who had used telemedicine was expected to peak at 35-44 years (37%) and then decrease, tapering to only 29% of patients aged 65 and over. This is likely due to the convenience with the technology. For those familiar with the technology but new to telemedicine, this is likely a symptom of the process (i.e., the experience). Of the 30 percent of Americans who used a telemedicine service, only 31 percent were likely to recommend the service to a friend or colleague. This indicates a lot of room for improvement in telemedicine for the patient experience.
Prosper – Telemedicine Service User
Prosper Insights & Analytics
The only way patients can overcome the psychological barriers to telemedicine adoption is for digital solutions not only to replicate, but surpass, the experience of face-to-face appointments. For healthcare providers, this means developing integrated solutions not only for the central video conferencing aspects of telemedicine, but also a complete digital front door strategy across multiple devices and patient contact points in order to improve results and reduce costs.
Drenik: Let’s dig deeper into technology and process. If it is obvious that better use of existing technologies and more innovation around new technologies is required, who in the ecosystem “owns” this improvement?
Paxton: The data suggests that there is no clear winner when it comes to being a memorable telemedicine service. 15 percent said they did not know or did not remember which telemedical service they used, and 23 percent said they had no preference. The remaining patients were divided into a broad mix of telemedicine “solutions” including Zoom, Teladoc, Doxy me, MyChart, Telemed, and others.
Prosper – Telemedicine website used
Prosper Insights & Analytics
The truth is that the core competency of any healthcare provider or organization is never developing software solutions, and any hastily developed in-house solution is likely to be missing. Zoom is 7.2 percent, but the world probably agrees that even the most ubiquitous meeting software isn’t the best solution for all types of virtual interaction. It is the specially developed solutions such as Doxy me that show the way. Other companies like Qure4u handle the entire patient journey from telemedicine to remote patient monitoring to device integration.
Companies like this take responsibility for improving the digital health experience. Whether it’s a hospital or healthcare organization, an individual software company, or an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), partnerships with companies like Persistent Systems can be an integral part of the puzzle, as developing such solutions requires a mix of product engineering , Design thinking and industry expertise. This applies to both the development of a single mobile app, as we supported them at the transplant care company CareDx, or a comprehensive digital care platform.
Drenik: Let’s talk about the digital pharmacy. Thrive‘s data on the introduction of digital pharmacy services mirrors that of telemedicine in a way. Does it have the same reasons or what is at stake here?
Paxton: The lack of mainstream adoption of digital pharmacy services is not due to a lack of options. In addition to the legacy pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens moving into prescription-on-demand delivery, a wide range of competitors have emerged lately. Companies have attracted huge sums of venture capital, have been taken over by big players like Amazon or have gone public via IPO or SPAC. A year ago, in the middle of the pandemic, Medly Pharmacy raised $ 100 million from Volition Capital and Greycroft.
Looking at the data, 47 percent of patients had their prescription filled out in a store in the last 30 days, while only 14 percent ordered online via desktop / laptop and even fewer 7.7 percent via smartphone or tablet. This could be because people are more comfortable when the pandemic subsides.
Prosper – How Did You Shop For Prescription Drugs?
Prosper Insights & Analytics
While the lack of telemedicine is evenly distributed among men and women, it is interesting to see more and more men ordering their prescriptions digitally. In fact, the group over 65 has the highest percentage (19.4) of desktop / laptop orders online. This could be because men like the anonymity that comes with ordering their prescriptions online rather than picking them up at the pharmacy.
Since ordering prescriptions is more like ordering other products for delivery online, I suspect that the digital pharmacy will grow faster than telemedicine. However, the digital pharmacy experience needs to continue to be seamless, from the moment your doctor sends the prescription until it is delivered. To get going, it has to be more convenient than filling out a prescription in person.
Drenik: The latest interesting data on healthcare from Prosper Insights & Analytics The June survey found that the majority of people (85%) had NOT attended a walk-in clinic in the past three months. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Paxton: This number is a bit of a surprise as I would have expected a significant number of people to be tested and / or vaccinated in a walk-in clinic. Of the 14.5 percent of respondents, however, most (85%) cited favorable opening times and location as the main reason for visiting a walk-in clinic – more than having no family doctor or no health insurance.
Prosper – walk-in clinic
Prosper Insights & Analytics
This could be viewed as an “on-demand” version of health care, albeit in person. I can envision the larger on-demand healthcare marketplace, be it physical home visits for patients who are not easily mobile, or virtual follow-up exams with connected devices like blood pressure monitors. This embodies more of a hybrid approach to healthcare where some on-demand services will be purely virtual, others personal, and others a combination based on patient needs.
Drenik: Thank you Joe for taking the time to share your thoughts and expertise on digital health trends. It will be interesting to see how these trends and technologies evolve in the years to come.
source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/healthcare-was-already-going-digital-pre-pandemic-heres-what-the-latest-data-indicates-is-next-for-patients-and-providers/
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